Back in the early 1990s, when Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan was still considered "the Maestro," I asked him what he thought of the Reagan administration's economic program. I anticipated a discussion of 1980s tax and interest rate policy. That's not what I got. ...more

January 18, 2009

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the worsening financial crisis could prove a major weight on U.S. business growth and pledged to "act as needed" to brace the wobbly economy. ...more

September 24, 2008

Florida's tomato farmers were not to blame for the salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,200 people this summer, but they have suffered the brunt of the economic consequences. They want compensation for their estimated $100 million in losses, and they deserve it. ...more

July 25, 2008

President Bush's snarky comment at the end of a private meeting with world leaders shows why the United States' international standing faces low tide. ...more

July 16, 2008

The impact of skyrocketing aviation fuel prices could result in massive job losses, declining business activity and reduced tourism as early as the second half of 2008, the Business Travel Coalition, a Radnor, Pa.,-based business consumer group, warned Monday. ...more

June 24, 2008

John F. Kennedy spoke these powerful words of wisdom that are enshrined in my home, "We have the power to make this the best generation in the history of mankind, or to make it the last." The United States of America now stands on the precipice of its most perilous predicament since the Great Depression. There are new dangers and numerous frightening parallels in contemporary America with those of the late 1920s. Unemployment is increasing at an alarming rate. The stock market is growing weaker. Banks and lending institutions are struggling to survive. The unhealthy speculation in the oil market by huge pension funds (and others) is similar to the more generalized speculation euphoria of the 1920s, which led to such a calamitous scenario. The dollar is weak against most of the major currencies of world. The cost of a protracted and unnecessary war in Iraq has directly resulted in an unconscionably huge national debt –– a debt of such obscene size that it will place an economic noose around the necks of American children and grandchildren. The unwillingness of our national leaders to aggressively pursue the development of alternative energy sources to replace the rapidly depleting supply of oil throughout the world places us further behind in our quest to become energy efficient and independent. (No, there is not enough oil in untapped oil fields in Alaska to supply our needs for 200 years. Anyone who truly believes such nonsense, in an environment of worldwide gas guzzling demand, needs to a revisit high school science class and college Economics 101.) ...more

June 12, 2008

Sixteen months ago, a federal agency proposed slowing ships in certain East Coast waters to 10 knots or less during parts of the year to save the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, from extinction. ...more

October 21, 2007